CHICAGO (CN) — Lollapalooza kicks off next week, bringing a four-day party to Chicago. Even a week out from the city's biggest annual music festival, you can feel it coming.
Parks are getting cleaned, cops are setting up drunk tanks and trains are crowded with suburban 20-somethings excited to be spending the week in downtown Windy City, some of whom paid up to $4,200 for a four-day platinum ticket package.
But is holding a huge music festival in the middle of a pandemic – while only about half the state is fully vaccinated, cases are rising and new variants are spreading – really safe?
For the state and the city, the answer is yes. Both Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker have put their stamp of approval on the festival despite the increase in cases.
At a Thursday press conference in which he endorsed the festival, Pritzker said he plans to go himself, along with his family and a few friends. While the Democratic governor emphasized that the pandemic isn't over, he noted Lollapalooza is an outdoor festival.
"It’s safer outdoors than it is indoors... Just a little [social] distance, and if you’re vaccinated, it’s safe for you to attend something like this," Pritzker said.
Lightfoot, a fellow Democrat, was only slightly more reserved, saying at a Tuesday press conference that she didn't regret approving the festival in May.
"We made the best decision that we could, as always, based upon the data and based upon our projections and modeling," she said.
At the same press conference, Dr. Allison Arwady, commissioner for the Chicago Department of Public Health, said her agency will monitor the Covid-19 situation at the festival throughout its run.
A cynic might point out that the local and state governments have more to gain from a green-lit Lollapalooza than knowing they made festivalgoers' summer dreams come true. The event is a massive source of income for the city, Cook County and the state.
In 2018 alone, the festival generated more than $245 million in revenue, and it and other festivals' boost to Chicago's finances was accounted for in Lightfoot's 2021 city budget. Losing that income for a second year in a row would be a financial disaster, especially in a city already cut to the bone by austerity measures.
But viruses don't care about economics.
Since June, Covid-19 infection rates in Illinois have grown rapidly, from a daily low of 102 reported new cases on June 18 to a high of 1,993 new cases on July 22. New, more infections variants of the coronavirus are also spreading rapidly, with the gamma variant in particular accounting for almost a third of the new cases statewide.
This is the current coronavirus situation in Illinois while as many as 400,000 people are planning to gather in Chicago's Grant Park next Thursday through Sunday.
To their credit, Lollapalooza staff have announced a protocol to try and keep the festival as Covid-free as possible. Only those with cards proving they have been fully vaccinated - or those who can prove they are Covid-negative - will be allowed entry to the festival grounds. Those who are unvaccinated will also be asked to wear masks throughout the festival.
"As you know from the time that it was first announced, we were really pleased to partner with Lollapalooza with their decision to require vaccination or negative tests for attendees, and that certainly adds a level of complexity to the situation, but we want people to have a good time and we want this to be as safe as it can be," Arwady said at Tuesday's press conference, praising the festival organizers.
But the organizers have not specified how the Covid regulations will be enforced, or how they plan to deal with any coronavirus cases that emerge during the festival.
A representative for Lollapalooza did not respond to a request for comment on those issues.
Follow @djbyrnes1
Subscribe to Closing Arguments
Sign up for new weekly newsletter Closing Arguments to get the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and hot cases and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world.
Additional Reads
-
-
Senate Republicans buck blue slips on US attorney nominees April 18, 2024
